Regency Personalities Series-Sir Charles Henry Knowles

Regency Personalities Series

In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Sir Charles Henry Knowles
24 August 1754 – 28 November 1831

Charles Henry Knowles

Sir Charles Henry Knowles was born at Kingston, Jamaica on 24 August 1754, the second son of the Governor of Jamaica Admiral Sir Charles Knowles and his wife Maria Magdalena Theresa de Bouget. He received his initial education at Eton College circa 1764–6, and then subsequently at Glasgow and Edinburgh. He joined in navy in 1768 as a midshipman aboard the 36-gun frigate HMS Venus, which was then serving in the English Channel under the command of Captain Samuel Barrington. He was then aboard the Spithead guard ship the 74-gun HMS Lenox under Captain Robert Roddam, before joining the 32-gun HMS Southampton under Captain John MacBride, where he served at Plymouth and in the Channel.

Knowles was appointed as acting-lieutenant without pay aboard the sloop HMS Diligence by Sir George Brydges Rodney in 1773, and Knowles went on to serve in this capacity aboard HMS Princess Amelia, HMS Portland and HMS Guadeloupe under Captain William Cornwallis at Pensacola and from Jamaica. He then moved aboard Captain Collins’s 20-gun HMS Seaford where he served off Cap Francois and Santo Domingo. His next appointment was aboard Rear-Admiral Clark Gayton’s flagship, the 50-gun HMS Antelope at Port Royal from 1774 to May 1776, from which he moved aboard the 20-gun HMS Squirrel under Captain Stair Douglas. Under Douglas Knowles served at Jamaica, the Mosquito Shore and the Bay of Honduras.

Knowles’s commission was confirmed on 28 May 1776 and he was appointed as second lieutenant of the 28-gun HMS Boreas, then under the command of Captain Charles Thompson. He served aboard the Boreas at Port Royal, and later on the North American Station at New York after the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was promoted to first lieutenant and in 1776 moved aboard the 50-gun HMS Chatham, which was at that time the flagship of Vice-Admiral Molyneux Shuldham. He went on to see service on the flat boats at New York and Rhode Island.

Knowles returned to Britain aboard HMS Asia in January 1777 to see his father, who was in declining health. Whilst at home he took the opportunity to prepare his first signal book, A Set of Signals for a Fleet on a Plan Entirely New, for publication, before returning to the Americas in summer 1777. The book, published that year, proposed innovative new ways of flying numbered signals, and the development of tactics whereby the traditional line of battle would be abandoned once the battle began. Knowles claimed to have communicated the work to Lord Howe, and that Howe’s tactics at the Glorious First of June reflected Knowles’s theories on effective naval tactics. The death of his father on 9 December that year and his succession as the second baronet caused Knowles to return to England again.

He returned to active service again during the summer of 1778, and was present with Barrington’s fleet at the Battle of St. Lucia on 15 December 1778, serving aboard Commander James Richard Dacres’s 18-gun HMS Ceres. Two days later the Ceres was chased and captured by a squadron under the comte d’Estaing. He was exchanged and appointed to serve as lieutenant aboard Vice-Admiral Barrington’s flagship, the 74-gun HMS Prince of Wales. In May 1779 he was briefly ordered to be master and commander of the storeship HMS Supply, but had returned to the Prince of Wales by 6 July, when he took part and was wounded in the Battle of Grenada. Knowles returned to England with Barrington in October 1779, and by December had joined Admiral Sir George Rodney’s flagship, the 90-gun HMS Sandwich, as a volunteer for the Relief of Gibraltar.

Rodney appointed him to command the 18-gun xebec HMS Minorca on 26 January 1780, quickly following this with a promotion to post-captain and an appointment to the 24-gun HMS Porcupine on 2 February. Knowles went on to serve in a highly active role in the defence of British trade in the Mediterranean, engaging privateers and escorting convoys. At one point he was briefly blockaded in Minorca, where he fell ill. He was eventually able to escape to sea in January 1781, and was based out of Gibraltar until his return to England in April 1782. On his arrival he was accused of piracy and murder, but was able to clear his name, returning to Gibraltar aboard HMS Britannia to resume command of the Porcupine. He became senior naval officer there on the departure of Sir Roger Curtis, until returning to England once more in command of the 74-gun Spanish prize HMS San Miguel.

The end of the war allowed Knowles to continue with his studies, and he made a tour of France in 1788. The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793 led to Knowles returning to active service in command of the 32-gun frigate HMS Daedalus. He was ordered to Halifax, but given permission to move to the Chesapeake, where a French convoy was planning to sail from. Problems with manning his ship meant that Knowles sailed from Portsmouth with a largely inexperienced crew, but Knowles was able to have them fully trained by the time of their arrival at Hampton Roads. Shortly after his arrival, the French escort arrived, and the convoy sailed shortly afterwards, observed by Knowles on the Daedalus. Knowles passed this latest information on to Lord Howe, who moved his Channel fleet to intercept it, setting in motion the events that would lead to the Glorious First of June. Having fulfilled his objective Knowles sailed to Halifax, and from there returned to England. He was appointed to the 74-gun HMS Edgar and served in the North Sea. Once again Knowles was beset by difficulties in manning his ship, the Edgar put to sea from the Nore manned by soldiers from 23 different regiments, and commanded by officers from still other regiments. Typhus and ‘the itch’ were rampant, on the ship’s return to port she had to be scrubbed with lime water and fumigated with vinegar, while 100 men were discharged to the hospital. Knowles suffered a further mishap when the Edgar was dismasted in a storm off the Texel, and had to be towed back to the Nore.

Knowles transferred to the 74-gun HMS Goliath in late 1795, serving under Sir John Jervis at Lisbon. While serving there he ran foul of Jervis, who had him court-martialled in 1796 on a charge of disobeying a verbal order. At the trial Jervis’s captain of the fleet Robert Calder swore that no order had been given, and the lieutenant who was supposed to have transmitted it swore he had not received one. The charge was therefore dismissed, but this appears to have been the start of a personal enmity of Jervis against Knowles.

Knowles was still in Jervis’s fleet in command of Goliath when the Battle of Cape St Vincent was fought on 14 February 1797. During the engagement Jervis ordered his ships to tack in succession whilst in close action with the enemy. Knowles did so, coming under heavy fire and was forced to temporarily drop out of the action while the Goliath‘ knotted and spliced their rigging. On his return to the battle, Knowles observed an opportunity to pass to windward of the Santísima Trinidad and so becalm her. Jervis however signalled Goliath and ordered Knowles to stop the manoeuvre. The following morning both Knowles on the Goliath, and James Whitshed on HMS Namur had observed the vulnerable situation that the Santísima Trinidad was in, and attempted to signal this to Jervis. They received no reply.

The fleet anchored in Lagos Bay the following day, with Knowles placing the Goliath where she could provide flanking cover for the line. On going aboard Jervis’s flagship HMS Victory he was however told by Jervis that the Goliath was vulnerable where she lay. Knowles replied that the Spanish were hardly likely to attack given their condition. While Knowles was dining with Vice-Admiral William Waldegrave that evening, Jervis sent the Victory‘s master to move Goliath, a great insult to Knowles. Jervis also ordered him to swap ships with Thomas Foley and take over HMS Britannia. Knowles soon returned to England after this, citing poor health.

Knowles attended the service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral on 19 December 1797 for the victories at St Vincent and Camperdown, receiving a Naval Gold Medal, and then largely retired from public life. He spent the rest of his life in study, producing seven books of professional studies and a new code of signals in 1798, based on his 1777 work and incorporating revisions he had made in 1780, 1787 and 1794. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral on 14 February 1799, two years to the day after the Battle of Cape St Vincent, a Vice-Admiral on 24 April 1804 and a full Admiral on 31 July 1810. He suggested using balloons to observe the French invasion forces at Brest in 1803, and in 1830 he published his largely autobiographical work Observations on Naval Tactics.

He had married Charlotte Johnstone on 10 September 1800, the couple eventually having three sons and four daughters. He was nominated a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 16 May 1820 at the accession of King George IV. Admiral Charles Henry Knowles died on 28 November 1831 at the age of 77. He was succeeded as baronet by his son Francis Charles Knowles.

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Regency Personalities Series-Admiral Sir George Cranfield-Berkeley

Regency Personalities Series

In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Admiral Sir George Cranfield-Berkeley
10 August 1753 – 25 February 1818

George Cranfield-Berkeley

Admiral Sir George Cranfield-Berkeley was born in 1753, the third son of Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley and his courtier wife Elizabeth Drax. His father died when George was only two and the title Earl of Berkeley passed to his elder brother Frederick. George was privately educated until nine, when he attended Eton College, gaining a formal education until 1766 when he was attached to the royal yacht Mary commanded by a relative Augustus Keppel. Mary conveyed Princess Caroline Matilda to Denmark, where she was married to Christian VII of Denmark. Berkeley acted as page at her wedding.

In 1767, Berkeley was attached to the squadron under Hugh Palliser based at Newfoundland. Berkeley was there mentored by Joseph Gilbert (who later accompanied James Cook) and John Cartwright (later a prominent political reformer). With these men, Berkeley participated in a survey of Newfoundland, learning seamanship, surveying and numerous other skills in the two-year commission. In 1769, Berkeley was transferred to the Mediterranean and served in the frigate HMS Alarm under John Jervis. For the next five years, Berkeley spent time in the Mediterranean and at home, making lieutenant in 1772 but failing to be elected as MP for Cricklade and then Gloucestershire after a bitter and enormously expensive contest.

Following the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Berkeley served on HMS Victory, in which he commanded a gundeck at the First Battle of Ushant. Berkeley became a prominent opponent of Sir Hugh Palliser after the battle, at which Palliser was accused of refusing to obey the orders of his commanding officer, Augustus Keppel. This opposition did not prevent Berkeley gaining his first independent command the same year, when he took over the 8-gun HMS Pluto. The next year he moved to the similarly tiny HMS Firebrand and impressed his commanding officer Lord Shuldham. Shuldham’s recommendation for promotion was turned down however due to his previous involvement in the Palliser affair.

In 1780, Berkeley was appointed to HMS Fairy, a 14-gun brig under his cousin George Keppel and together they captured the American ship Mercury, taking prisoner Henry Laurens who was on a secret mission to loan money from the Dutch government. The information procured from Laurens led to a British declaration of war against the Netherlands. As another consequence, Berkeley was promoted to captain by Admiral Richard Edwards and commanded Fairy during the relief of the Great Siege of Gibraltar and further operations against American shipping from Newfoundland.

In 1781, Berkeley was given command of the frigate HMS Recovery which was placed in the squadron of Samuel Barrington. At the Second Battle of Ushant in 1782, Berkeley’s ship was engaged in the decimation of a French convoy and its escorts. As a reward, Berkeley was given the captured ship of the line HMS Pegase. Whilst aboard her he was approached by a young William Cobbet who wanted to volunteer for the navy. Berkeley dissuaded Cobbet, who later credited Berkeley with saving him from “most toilsome and perilous profession in the world”. In April 1783, Berkeley finally gained a seat in parliament, at the constituency of Gloucestershire. Berkeley would remain MP for the town for the next 27 years and took the position seriously, becoming a very important independent MP. He even attempted to bring William Pitt the Younger and Charles James Fox into an alliance, although the collapse of the scheme ended with a feud between him and Fox.

The following year, 1784 after the peace, Berkeley married Emilia Charlotte Lennox, daughter of Lord George Lennox. The marriage was a love match and Berkeley’s sister commented that they were “a pattern of domestic happiness scarcely to be equaled”. The couple had three daughters and two sons and remained an unusually tight-knit family, Berkeley using his extensive personal wealth to bring his family with him on long voyages and overseas postings. In 1786 Berkeley commanded HMS Magnificent and remained with her for three years until 1789 when he became surveyor-general of the ordnance. He left the post after the French Revolutionary Wars broke out in 1793, taking over HMS Marlborough.

Berkeley was still in command of Marlborough when she fought under Lord Howe at the Glorious First of June, fighting as part of Admiral Thomas Pasley’s van division there and at the preceding Atlantic campaign of May 1794. At the First of June, Marlborough was dismasted in close combat with several French ships and Berkeley badly wounded in the head and thigh, having to retire below after a period to staunch the bleeding. He had a long convalescence after the action but was amongst the captains selected for the gold medal commemorating the action, only awarded to those felt to have played a significant part in the victory.

Returning to service in 1795, Berkeley commanded HMS Formidable off Brest, Cadiz, Ireland and the Texel, coming ashore in 1798 to command the Sussex sea fencibles. In 1799, Berkeley was promoted rear-admiral and attached to the Channel Fleet, but the gout which had forced his first retirement returned, and Berkeley was forced to take permanent shore leave in 1800. In 1801, Berkeley increased his political interests to compensate for the loss of his naval career.

Berkeley continued building his political status during the Peace of Amiens and by it’s end Berkeley had been appointed inspector of sea fencibles, a job he undertook with vigour, conducting a fourteen-month survey of Britain’s coastal defences, which greatly improved the island’s defences. In 1806, after a shift in political power, Berkeley fell out of favour somewhat and was dispatched to the North American Station. From there, Berkeley ordered the attack by HMS Leopard on the American frigate USS Chesapeake in retaliation for American recruitment of British deserters. This action, known as the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, helped precipitate the War of 1812.

Having embarrassed the British government with this action, Berkeley was recalled home. However, public opinion supported his orders, so Berkeley was moved to command in Lisbon in the hope he could organise the chaotic supply system for Wellington’s army in the Peninsula War. Berkeley recognised that only a dedicated and organised convoy system could keep the supply of men, food and material regular and consequently set one up. Simultaneously, he reequipped and galvanised the remnants of the Spanish Navy, rescuing several ships from capture by the French as well as used frigates to supply partisan units all along the coast of Portugal and Northern Spain.

By 1810, Wellington could truthfully say of Berkeley that “His activity is unbounded, the whole range of the business of the Country in which he is stationed, civil, military, political, commercial, even ecclesiastical I believe as well as naval are objects of his attention”. He was promoted to full admiral and made Lord High Admiral of the Portuguese Navy by the Portuguese Regent in Brazil. By 1810 he had used sailors to man coastal defences all over Spain, freeing soldiers for Wellington and also formed a squadron of river gunboats to harry French units from major rivers like the Tagus.

Berkely retired from the post in 1812, again laid low by health. He and Wellington remained good friends for the rest of their lives, and Wellington later stated that Berkeley was the best naval commander he had ever cooperated with. Berkeley’s final voyage was to return to Britain aboard HMS Barfleur. Later rewards included being made a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1813 which was converted to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1815. He was reportedly disappointed not to have been given a peerage for his long and excellent service.

Berkeley retired to a house in South Audley Street, London, where his gout continued to plague him with severe pain for the rest of his life. He spent some time during this period conversing with lifelong friend Edward Jenner, whose vaccine for smallpox Berkeley had persuaded the government to investigate, particularly with regard for the health of the navy. He was confined to bed as a result of chronic gout, and died in February 1818 at the age of 64, survived by his family.

His eldest son Sir George Berkeley was a general and father of the 7th Earl of Berkeley while his younger son Grenville Berkeley was a politician. His third daughter Mary Caroline (d. 1873) married Henry Fitzroy, 5th Duke of Grafton.

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Regency Personalities Series-John MacBride

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

John MacBride
1735 – 17 February 1800

John MacBride

John MacBride was born in Scotland around 1735, the second son of the Presbyterian minister Robert MacBride. The MacBrides moved to Ireland shortly after John’s birth, when Robert became minister of Ballymoney, in County Antrim. John’s brother, David MacBride, became a noted medical writer. John MacBride initially went to sea with the merchant service in 1751, and joined the navy as an able seaman three years later, in 1754. He served first aboard the 24-gun HMS Garland in the West Indies for a number of years, before returning to Britain and serving aboard HMS Norfolk, the flagship in the Downs for a few months.

MacBride passed his lieutenant’s examination and received his commission in 1758. He was moved into the hired cutter Grace, and in 1761 came across a French privateer anchored in the Dunkirk roadstead. MacBride made contact with the frigate HMS Maidstone and asked her captain for four armed and manned boats. Maidstone‘s captain readily agreed. The British boarded the vessel, and carried the ship with two men wounded. MacBride himself shot and killed the French lieutenant as he aimed a gun at the British boat. The total French losses were two dead and five wounded. Having secured the vessel, the British took her out to sea under the guns of a French battery. (DWW-a real cutting out expedition!)

MacBride’s good service brought him a promotion to master and commander on in 1762, and an appointment to command the fireship HMS Grampus. From there he moved to command the sloop HMS Cruizer in 1763. After some time spent on the Home station, MacBride received a promotion to post-captain in 1765, and took command of the 30-gun HMS Renown. This was followed in 1765 with command of the 32-gun HMS Jason, and a mission to establish a colony on the Falkland Islands. (DWW-so Argentina can be angry at MacBride.)

MacBride arrived with Jason, HMS Carcass and the storeship HMS Experiment, in January 1766, with orders to secure a settlement and to inform any existing inhabitants that the islands were a British possession. The British consolidated Port Egmont, made several cruises in the surrounding waters, and in December came across the French settlement. In a cordial meeting MacBride informed the French governor M. de Neville of the British claim, which the French politely rejected.

Unbeknownst to both de Neville and MacBride, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, who had established the French settlement, had agreed to sell the colony to Spain. The resulting tensions between the Spanish and British claims would nearly lead to war in 1770, but in the meantime MacBride returned home, reporting the situation to the government.

He later published a 13-page monograph, in 1770, entitled A Journal of the Winds and Weather…at Falkland Islands from 1 February 1766 to 19 January 1767.

After his return to Britain MacBride was given command of the 22-gun HMS Seaford in 1767 and employed to cruise in the English Channel. He spent several years aboard Seaford, before transferring to take command of the 32-gun HMS Arethusa in 1771, followed by the 32-gun HMS Southampton later that year.

He was in command of Southampton in 1772 when he received orders to command a small squadron tasked with transporting Caroline Matilda, former Queen of Denmark and Norway and sister of King George III, from Elsinore to Stadt. The squadron consisted of Southampton, and two of MacBride’s former commands, Seaford, and Cruizer. In 1773 he took command of HMS Orpheus.

With the outbreak of war with the American colonies, MacBride was appointed to take command of the 64-gun HMS Bienfaisant in 1776. He was present at the Battle of Ushant in 1778, but did not become heavily engaged in the confused action.

In the ensuing argument over the outcome of the battle, MacBride gave evidence in favour of Admiral Keppel that was an important factor in Keppel’s acquittal at his court-martial. MacBride was less supportive of Sir Hugh Palliser.

He remained in command of Bienfaisant, and joined Sir George Rodney’s fleet to relieve Gibraltar. During the voyage the British fleet came across a Spanish convoy transporting naval stores from San Sebastián to Cádiz, and engaged it. The British succeeded in capturing the convoy, while MacBride distinguished himself in engaging the Spanish flagship Guipuscoana, which surrendered to him.

In 1780 the fleet again encountered Spanish ships, this time off Cape St. Vincent. The Spanish fleet, under Admiral Juan de Lángara, were engaged in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, and again MacBride was in the thick of the action.

He took his ship in to engage the San Domingo, with the Bienfaisant narrowly escaping significant damage after her opponent blew up. He then went on to chase down and capture Lángara’s flagship, the 80-gun Fenix.

MacBride sent Lieutenant Thomas Louis aboard to take possession, but as a smallpox outbreak was raging on the Bienfaisant, MacBride did not take the usual step of transferring some of the captured officers and men aboard his own ship. Both ships made it to Gibraltar without incident, after which MacBride was given the honour of taking Rodney’s despatches back to Britain. MacBride set off at once, but was delayed by adverse winds. Consequently his despatches arrived several days after an identical set had reached London, delivered by Captain Edward Thomson, who had left Rodney later than MacBride, but who had had a faster voyage.

Rodney’s fleet returned to Britain, and MacBride rejoined the Bienfaisant. In early August a large French privateer, the 64-gun Comte d’Artois, was reported to have sailed from Brest to cruise off the Irish south coast. MacBride was ordered to sail in company with the 44-gun HMS Charon and to capture the dangerous vessel. After several days in search of the vessel, a mysterious sail was finally sighted early on 13 August, chasing after some of the ships of a convoy departing from Cork.

MacBride ranged up and fell in with the unidentified ship, which hoisted English colours. Both ships came within pistol shot, and it was not until there was some communication between the two ships, that MacBride could be satisfied of her identity. By now the two ships were so close, with Bienfaisant off the Comte de’Artois‘s bow, that neither ship could bring their main guns to bear. Instead both ships opened fire with muskets until MacBride could manoeuvre away and a general action ensued.

After an hour and ten minutes the French vessel surrendered, having had 21 killed and 35 wounded, while Bienfaisant had three killed and 20 wounded. The Charon had only joined the action towards the end of the engagement and had a single man wounded. The capture had an unusual sequel, for just over a year later, and under a different captain, Bienfaisant captured another privateer, this time named Comtesse d’Artois.

In a further coincidence MacBride was appointed in 1781 to command the 40-gun HMS Artois. MacBride served in the North Sea with Sir Hyde Parker’s fleet, and fought against the Dutch at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1781. After the battle Parker temporarily moved MacBride into the 80-gun HMS Princess Amelia, whose captain, John MacCartney, had been killed during the battle.

MacBride resumed command of Artois after the fleet’s return to port, and continued to cruise in the North Sea. On 3 December he engaged and captured two large 24-gun Dutch privateers, the Hercules and Mars. Nine men were killed and fifteen wounded on Mars, while 13 were killed and 20 wounded on Hercules. Artois had one man killed and six wounded.

By 1782 MacBride was operating in the Channel, and in April was sent out as a scout ahead of the main force under Admiral Samuel Barrington, which aimed to intercept a French squadron that had left Brest bound for the East Indies. He sighted the force on 20 April and alerted Barrington. The British moved in and that day and the following captured over half of the French force. After this success MacBride was appointed to the Irish station in June, where he worked in the impress service while Artois cruised under her first lieutenant.

At the end of the war with America, MacBride left the Artois, but was able to obtain command of the 32-gun HMS Druid. He commanded her until the end of 1782, after which he was temporarily unemployed at sea. MacBride took this opportunity to enter politics, and in 1784 he was elected as MP for Plymouth, holding the seat until 1790. He gave several speeches on naval matters, and sat on the Duke of Richmond’s commission into the defences of Portsmouth and Plymouth between 1785 and 1786.

He opposed a plan for fortifying the naval dockyards, both on the commission and in parliament. In 1788 he returned to an active, though not a seagoing command, when he took over the Plymouth guardship, the 74-gun HMS Cumberland. By 1790, with the threat of the Spanish Armament looming, MacBride took Cumberland to Torbay to join the fleet assembling there under Lord Howe.

MacBride was promoted to rear-admiral in 1793, as part of the general promotion following the outbreak of war. He became commander-in-chief on the Downs station, commanding a frigate squadron with his flag in Cumberland, later transferring his flag to the 32-gun HMS Quebec.

He took possession of Ostend after the French retreat in early 1793, and in October transported reinforcements under General Sir Charles Grey to assist in the defense of Dunkirk. He took command of the 36-gun HMS Flora at the end of the year and sailed from Portsmouth carrying an army under the Earl of Moira to support French royalists in Brittany and Normandy.

Following this service he took command of a small squadron in the Western Approaches, flying his flag in a number of different vessels, including the sloop HMS Echo, the 74-gun HMS Minotaur and the 64-gun HMS Sceptre.

The squadron did not achieve any significant successes, and MacBride had the misfortune to break his leg while mounting his horse, forcing him to temporarily relinquish his duties. He was promoted to rear-admiral of the red in 1794, and later to vice-admiral of the blue.

Promoted to vice-admiral of the white in 1795, MacBride became commander of the squadron in the North Sea assigned to watch the Dutch fleet in the Texel, flying his flag in the 74-gun HMS Russell. He stepped down from the post in late 1795, and was not actively employed at sea again. He was promoted to admiral of the blue on 14 February 1799. Admiral John MacBride died of a paralytic seizure at the Spring Garden Coffee House, London on 17 February 1800.

MacBride married early in his career, but no details are known, other than that his wife was the daughter of a naval officer. She is presumed to have died, for MacBride married Ursula Folkes, eldest daughter of William Folkes of Hillington Hall, in 1774. Their son, John David MacBride, became principal of Magdalen Hall, Oxford. MacBride’s daughter, Charlotte, married Admiral Willoughby Thomas Lake in 1795.

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Regency Personalities Series-Robert Linzee

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Robert Linzee
1739 – 4 October 1804

Robert Linzee was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Linzee entered the navy and was promoted to lieutenant during the Seven Years’ War. He was advanced to his own commands shortly before the outbreak of the American War of Independence and served off the North American coast and in the Caribbean during that conflict. He saw important service against privateers as a frigate captain before advancing to command a ship of the line despite the loss of one of his ships. He saw action in several important battles, commanding a ship at the Battle of the Saintes and at the Battle of the Mona Passage. Left without a ship after the peace, he briefly commissioned a ship during the Spanish Armament, but paid her off after the crisis passed.

He was back in service after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, taking a ship out to the Mediterranean, and quickly being appointed a commodore with orders to assist the Corsican patriots against the French. Linzee commanded a small squadron in the area supporting Corsican and British efforts to dislodge the French. He later became a junior flag officer in the Mediterranean Fleet. He fought in two fleet actions in 1795, at Genoa and then at Hyères Islands. He returned to Britain shortly after Sir John Jervis took over command in the Mediterranean. He did not serve at sea again, though he continued to be promoted, rising to the rank of admiral of the blue before his death in 1804.

Robert Linzee was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire in 1739, the youngest child of five sons and five daughters born to Edward Linzee and his wife Anne Newnham. Edward Linzee was a burgess and several times mayor of Portsmouth and the Linzees were a significant local family. Robert Linzee was baptised on 13 February 1740 and entered the navy and saw service during the Seven Years’ War, being promoted to lieutenant on 29 January 1761. He was advanced to commander on 25 November 1768 and given command of the 10-gun sloop HMS Viper, based at Boston in 1769. His promotion to post-captain followed soon after, on 3 October 1770, and took command of the 50-gun HMS Romney that month. Romney was at this time flying the broad pennant of Commodore Samuel Hood, and Linzee remained in command until she was paid off in March 1771.

In February 1775 he took command of the new 28-gun sixth rate HMS Surprize and sailed for Newfoundland in May that year. He participated in the Relief of Quebec the following year, before undertaking cruises against American shipping. Surprize captured the American privateers Maria, on 7 May, and Gaspee, on 15 May 1776. Linzee returned to Newfoundland in January the following year, spending 1777 and part of 1778 off the North American coast, capturing another American privateer, Harlequin, on 7 September 1778. Linzee then took Suprize back to Britain to be refitted and coppered. Linzee’s next command, from 1780, was the 32-gun HMS Thetis. He was sent out as a convoy escort under the command of Captain Sir John Moutray, and managed to escape when the convoy was largely overwhelmed and captured on 9 August 1780 by a Spanish fleet under Luis de Córdova y Córdova. Linzee then joined the squadron dispatched to the West Indies under Samuel Hood in November 1780, and remained serving in the Leeward Islands the following year. On 12 May 1781 Thetis struck a rock off Saint Lucia and was wrecked.

Linzee’s career survived the customary court martial for the loss of his ship and in November 1781 he commissioned the 74-gun HMS Magnificent for service. He resumed his service in the Caribbean by returning to the Leeward Islands in February 1782, and went on to see action in a number of important engagements between British and French fleets. He was present with Admiral Sir George Rodney’s fleet at the first indecisive clash with the Comte de Grasse’s force in the Dominica Channel on 9 April, and then again at Rodney’s decisive victory over de Grasse three days later at the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April. Linzee was one of those dispatched a few days later under Sir Samuel Hood to search for more French ships, and was in action again on 19 April at the Battle of the Mona Passage. In the British victory that resulted, Magnificent played a significant role in chasing down and capturing the 32-gun frigate Aimable, at the cost to herself of four killed and eight wounded.

Linzee left the Caribbean for North America in July 1782 with Admiral Hugh Pigot’s force, and spent September and October at New York. He participated in the blockade of Cap-François in November 1782, and on 12 February 1783 Magnificent sailed from Gros Islet Bay on a cruise in company with the 64-gun ships HMS Prudent and HMS St Albans. On 15 February 1783 Magnificent sighted the 36-gun French frigate Concorde and gave chase. She was close enough to identify the mysterious ship as a frigate by 18:00, and by 20:00 as darkness fell Concorde opened fire on her pursuer with her stern guns. Magnificent overhauled the French ship by 21:15, and after fifteen minutes forced her to strike her colours. Magnificent took possession of Concorde, described as carrying 36 guns and 300 men and under the command of M. le Chevalier du Clesmaur. Shortly after her surrender the Concorde‘s maintopsail caught fire, forcing the crew to cut away the mainmast to extinguish it. Prudent and St Albans came up two hours later and Magnificent towed Concorde to St. John’s, Antigua. The American War of Independence ended shortly afterwards, and Linzee took Magnificent back to Britain to be paid off.

The peace between the end of the American War of Independence in 1783 and the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793 resulted in the drawdown of the navy, and Linzee does not appear to have had any commands except for a short period during the Spanish Armament in early 1790. He commissioned the 74-gun HMS Saturn in May 1790, and sailed her from Portsmouth to St Helens in June to join the Channel Fleet under Samuel Barrington, and later Lord Howe. The crisis eventually passed without breaking into open war, and Linzee duly paid Saturn off in September 1791. Linzee was appointed a Colonel of Marines in March 1793, shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars.

He was given command of the 74-gun HMS Alcide that month, and went out to join Lord Hood’s fleet off Toulon in April. He supported the defence of Toulon, and was appointed a commodore in September, raising his broad pennant aboard Alcide. Hood then dispatched him with a small force, consisting of the 74-gun ships HMS Alcide and HMS Courageux, the 64-gun HMS Ardent, the 32-gun HMS Lowestoffe and the 28-gun HMS Nemesis, to support the Corsican insurgents under General Pasquale Paoli. The squadron carried out several attacks on fortified French positions, but the British could render little material assistance until the landing of an expeditionary force under Lieutenant-General David Dundas and the reinforcement of the British blockade with extra ships from the Mediterranean Fleet. In one such attack, on 30 September 1793, Linzee took his squadron in to bombard Forneille, but suffered a number of casualties without inflicting appreciable damage. Linzee was then sent with his force to Tunis to attempt to capture or destroy the French 74-gun Duquesne and some gunboats, but the dey refused to allow any violation of his neutrality.

Linzee was promoted to rear-admiral of the white on 12 April 1794. He remained with Alcide, passing command of her to his flag captain, Thomas Shivers. Linzee shifted his flag later that year to the 98-gun HMS Windsor Castle, at first commanded by Captain Edward Cooke, and then from October by Captain William Shield. Linzee remained active in the operations off Corsica during this time. While anchored in San Fiorenzo Bay on 10 November 1794, a mutiny broke out aboard his ship. The mutineers declared that they were unhappy with the admiral, captain, first lieutenant and boatswain. Hotham, Rear-Admiral Hyde Parker, and several senior captains went aboard Windsor Castle to try to persuade the men to return to their duties. Shield requested a court martial to investigate his conduct, which was granted and honourably acquitted him. The mutiny was suppressed in time, the mutineers being pardoned by Hotham, and shortly after this Shield left the ship and was replaced by Captain John Gore, while a new first lieutenant and boatswain were also appointed.

Linzee then went on to serve as one of the junior flag officers of the Mediterranean Fleet, seeing action under Hood’s replacement, Lord Hotham. Still flying his flag aboard Windsor Castle Linzee was in action at the Naval Battle of Genoa on 14 March, and the Naval Battle of Hyères Islands on 13 July 1795. He had been promoted to vice-admiral shortly before the latter battle, on 1 June 1795. He briefly flew his flag aboard the 100-gun HMS Victory between October and November 1795, in the short interim between Hotham’s departure, and the arrival of the new commander, Admiral Sir John Jervis. After serving for a brief period under Jervis, Linzee finally returned to Britain aboard HMS Princess Royal in June 1796, escorting several merchant convoys. Linzee appears to have had no further active commands, although he was promoted to the rank of admiral of the blue on 1 January 1801. Admiral Robert Linzee died on 4 October 1804, at the age of 64, at Wickham, Hampshire. He was buried in the church there.

Linzee was twice married. He married his first wife, Ann Redstone, on 9 October 1771. She died on 26 July 1781, and Robert remarried on 2 February 1792, uniting with the 21-year old Mary Grant. She survived her husband, and later remarried. Robert Linzee had a single son with his first wife, born circa 1774 and named Edward Linzee. Edward did not follow his father into the navy, but entered the Church.

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Regency Personalities Series-Samuel Barrington

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Samuel Barrington
1729-1800

Samuel Barrington

Rear Admiral Samuel Barrington, RN was a British admiral.

Samuel was the fourth son of John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington of Beckett Hall at Shrivenham in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). He entered the Royal Navy at the age of 11, and by 1747 had worked his way to a post-captaincy.

He was in continuous service during the peace of 1748–56, and on the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War served with Admiral Edward Hawke in the Basque Roads in command of HMS Achilles.

In 1759 the Achilles captured a powerful French privateer, after two hours’ fighting. In the Havre-de-Grace expedition of the same year Barrington’s ship carried the flag of Rear-Admiral George Brydges Rodney, and in 1760 sailed with John Byron to destroy the Louisbourg fortifications. At the peace in 1763 Barrington had been almost continuously afloat for twenty-two years.

He was next appointed in 1768 to the frigate HMS Venus as governor to the Duke of Cumberland, who remained with him in all ranks from Midshipman to Rear Admiral.

Between 1772 and 1775 He accompanied Captain John Jervis to Russia where they spent time in St. Petersburg and inspected the arsenal and dockyards at Kronstadt and took a tour of the yacht designed by Sir Charles Knowles for Catherine the Great. The pair continued on to Sweden, Denmark and northern Germany. All the while Jervis and Barrington made notes on defences, harbour charts and safe anchorages. They came home via the Netherlands, the two once again making extensive studies of the area and took copious notes describing any useful information.

Barrington and Jervis then took a private cruise along the Channel coast calling at various harbours including Brest and making and improving their charts as they went. Barrington and Jervis, later Earl St. Vincent remained firm friends throughout their lives. On his return home, Barrington was offered, but declined, the command of the Channel fleet.

Barrington’s last active service was the relief of Gibraltar in October 1782. As admiral he flew his flag for a short time in 1790, but did not serve in the French Revolutionary Wars. He died in 1800.

The Santa Fe Island, also called Barrington Island, in the Galapagos was named after him.

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